Party Talk | From the Mind of the Gorilla

Contrary to what you may think when reading the title of this article – I am not going to talk about political parties – though I doubt anyone would blame me if I did. No…

I’m talking about real parties. Events. Gatherings… and how much I dislike them.

And from what I get when I talk to friends and colleagues – most people feel the same way.

It’s not that I dislike people, I don’t… it’s more because I’m more of a small group setting kind of guy – and I know that at some point during the party, I’m going to have to engage in benign chit-chat with somebody I don’t know.

I hate the insincerity of the whole “ancillary friend” dance that happens…

Just as I hate the whole routine of it.

“Hi. I’m Ted…”

“Hi, Ted. I’m the Gorilla. Nice party, huh?”

“Interesting name. Yeah, it sure is. I hate coming to these things, but the wife made me come tonight.”

“Man, I hear you on that one.”

“So, what do you do for a living?”

Ahhh… and there it is, the magic question. “What does one do for a living?” – as if finding out what somebody’s profession is will give you some kind of insight into the person they are…

And whenever we reach that point where I tell them I’m a stock analyst, the one question I’m asked most often is:

“How do you know which stocks to pick?”

My stock answer?

“The ones that make money.”

It always gets a grin. But then, they look at me, almost longingly, asking for something more than just a 30,000 foot view of the process.

The problem? There’s just too much information to convey…

I mean think about it, there are literally thousands of factors one needs to take into account before deciding to buy (or sell) – earnings, trends, socio-economic factors, geo-political factors – I could go on for hours…

And we’re not even getting into the millions of ways that data can all be interpreted.

So what do I tell them? Well, I normally start out with what I first heard when I first got into this business…

“Finding a winning stock is part science, part art and part magic.”

Sometimes you sail in under a lucky star and you make a mint on a dribbler…

Other times, you lose your shirt, even when all the planets seem to be aligned.

Science, art, magic.

Knowing that – what do you trust? The science behind the pick? Do you trust your ability? Or do you just throw a dart at a board and pick where it sticks?

Do you trust your gut? Do you go on instinct?

The answer is yes!

… and no.

Depending on how good your instincts are. Some people have TERRIBLE instincts – they never seem to make the correct decision on dinner – let alone picking a winning stock.

Other’s just have a feel for it. Again… part science, part magic.

However…

If there is one piece of advice I always give before the conversation is over. It may sound elementary, but it’s possibly the most important thing to remember…

Don’t get attached to the stock.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard about somebody losing BIG TIME on a company that he “really believed in”.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret…

What the company does, or can do, or will do isn’t as important as performance is.

I’d invest in fish food if the stock was a performer!

Your emotions belong nowhere near the trading world.

When you trade, pack your emotions up. Put them away. You can pull them back out when you turn your trading screen off…

Until then – you’re a machine.

Or you let a well-oiled machine like GorillaTrades find those trades for you. As you know – we’ve been able to help our subscribers make a lot of money over the years…

We’d love for you to join us.

But even if you don’t, and we find ourselves at a party together… we can go ahead and skip this part of the conversation – and move on to the second most asked question…

“So…do you have kids?”

“There was nothing wrong with being a homebody. There was nothing wrong with not wanting – not needing – the constant jostle and noise of a party or bar or… whatever.” –Charles de Lint